Meme

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. I read it before I went and saw the play with Cate Blanchett as Blanche!

Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl. This has been my travelling book and short stories are perfect for it. Each story was captivating and thrilling while at the same time able to be picked up and put back down. This book just cements Roald Dahl as one of the best and most creative and imaginative writers ever. He’s also very sly and manipulative as a writer too.

Reading:

Carry Me Down by M.J. Hyland. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to start this because I don’t want to put it down. It’s also a large paperback so it can’t be carried around in my bag.

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. Ongoing relationship with all things existentialist.

Bibliotopia, or, Mr. Gilbar’s Book of Books and Catch-all of Literary Facts and Curiosities compiled by Steven Gilbar. A marvellous little book I found at the book stall in the Sydney Theatre while waiting for the play to start. It has little facts and figures of bookish things. Very American biased but still fun to read. It’s designed to be picked up and put down.

Like this:

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

Past readers of my BTT answers will know that, while I love public libraries, I can’t really go and borrow items anymore because of my chronic fine-accumulating behaviour. I do drop in to read magazines and lust after the recently returned shelves, imagining what I could read if only I’d paid my fines or, better yet, never accumulated them in the first place.

As a young child, I was lucky enough to live around the corner fom the library (the same library I live near now in fact!) and I would go and stay there until closing time. I would spend endless summer and winter days there, from dawn to dusk. I became such a fixture there that Iwas a favourite with the librarians and they let me join them behind the desk! They also let me help them with things such as scanning items in and sticking barcodes on new items. It was thrilling! I’m very thankful for the kindness the librarians showed me.

Libraries have changed quite a bit since my days (and I’m only in my early twenties!) and I’m very disappointed that it’s the trend nowadays for noisy libraries. People have their mobiles on, talk at the top of their lungs and kids run screaming about. I find more peace in a bookshop. So obviously, I prefer dark and quiet libraries – the ways libraries are supposed to be, in my opinion.

Like this:

I always like to have a book with me at all times – call it a nerdy grown-up security blanket – and rarely do I leave the house without slipping one into my bag (even if I KNOW I’m not going to have a chance to read it). Do you take a book with you? Do you take whatever book you’re currently reading, or do you have a special on-the-go book? And do you have a preference for a these types of book (paperback, hardback; short stories; poetry etc)?

I’ve always taken a book out with me when I was younger but since I started driving a few years ago, I’ve rarely taken a book out. But recently, I’ve been driving much less and I find I’m back in the habit of popping a book into my bag for those unexpected spare moments – waiting for transport, transport delays, friends delay. I don’t have a ‘outside/inside’ book – I take whichever book I’m currently reading. Of course, if the book I’m reading is massive or extremely heavy, I’ll pick another slimmer volume to take out. I always prefer paperbacks, even though they get knocked around quite a bit (although curiously there’s never been any major disasters – just bruised edges).

I love seeing, and watching, people read and I like to think there’s an ‘insiders’ moment when fellow passengers pull out their respective books, slyly cast a glance at what the other is reading, before settling into their respective books. I remember a few years ago when every second passenger was reading Dan Brown… it’s a great to advertise, that’s for sure!

2. If you had (magically) more time to read-what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism? Magazines?

I haven’t had much time to read the books I wanted to read this year since I’ve been busy reading everything I could for research at uni. Most of the books I did read were books on my uni book list and they contained many of the book I wanted to read.

Now that I am on a break, I’m in the middle of a bibliophile paradise. 🙂 I usually spend all day reading and for as long as my attention and my body is able to continue reading. I’ve been re-reading childhood favourites and I’ve been reading many classics that I’ve always intended to read but have never gotten around. For example, I only finished The Picture of Dorian Gray last night. I’ve also been working through my shelves and reading mainly from my own collection (partly due to the rather large fine I have on all my library cards…). I’m taking full advantage of this break because I don’t know when I will have such luxury again.

Like this:

How long do you wait after finishing a book before you pick/start another one? How many books do you have planned ahead or do you pick up random books from your tbr pile (if you have one)? Do you review right away or keep reading and come back to it later?

Once I finish a book, I generally wait until the next day, at the very least, before starting a new book so I am able to absorb and comprehend what I’ve just read. I find that my mind is still very attached to the last book I’d read so reading another immediately (unless they’re a series) just completely overload me.

I never plan ahead with what I am to read. I find that completely stifling and takes the fun out of reading. I generally have a TBR pile of books that I pick from so there is some idea of what I am to read next. However, I still randomly pick books from my shelf when the mood strikes me. It really depends on my mood and I always pick according to it. What’s the point in going against it?

I have been reviewing the books right after I’ve finished them. It’s not because I’m deep set in a ritual but it’s because I’ve genuinely enjoyed those books and it is still fresh in my mind along with my responses.

I’ve read a majority of those authors but I cannot say that I have read everything they have ever written. I would like to though and it’s something I’m aiming for.

3. Did you LIKE everything?

Of the ones I have read, mostly yes. The one exception was Charlotte Bronte’s Villette with which I was a little disappointed and it is for the silliest reason. Half the text was in French, and not being a fluent reader in the lovely French language, it really distracted me from the story since I had to keep flicking to the endnotes for the translation. It’s nothing against the story or Bronte as a writer, but of Time. Well brought up young ladies in Victorian England were expected to know French, after all.

4. How about a least favorite author?

Least favourite? This is a slightly oxymoronic question! None, I suppose. I wouldn’t be reading them if I didn’t enjoy them.

5. An author you wanted to like, but didn’t?

Virgina Woolf. I think her work is incredible and so original and unique. However, I really cannot read her work. I continually struggle with it. The ones I have read, Mrs Dalloway and A room of one’s own, are incredible but also incredibly difficult. Perhaps when I’m older and wiser…

Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Please avoid spoilers!

“Curious stories became current about him after he had passed his twenty-fifth year. It was rumoured that he had been seen brawling with foreign sailors in a low den in the distant parts of Whitechapel, and that he consorted with thieves and coiners and knew the mysteries of their trade.” – p. 299, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.